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PRESS RELEASE: Liverpool scientists reveal how mice recognise each other

Nov 5, 2007 1:01pm

Liverpool scientists reveal how mice recognise each other

Liverpool, UK - 5 November 2007: Scientists at the University of Liverpool have discovered that mice rely on a special set of proteins to recognise each other.

Previous study assumed that another set of genes that influence smell in vertebrates might be used by animals that identify each other through scent.Â The team found, however, that mice use a highly specialised set of proteins in their urine to recognise different individuals, suggesting that this may also be true of other animals.

Professor Jane Hurst, Director of the Mammalian Behaviour and Evolution research group, explains: â€œFor many years scientists assumed that a particular set of genes, called the major histocompatibility complex (MHC), helped animals to identify individuals within their own species through their scent.Â Each individual has a different MHC code, just like every human has a different fingerprint.Â It influences the bodyâ€™s odour and it was assumed that animals that are sensitive to scents would use these different odours to recognise each other.

â€œWe found, however, that whilst female wild mice do indeed use scent to identify individual males, MHC does not play a part.Â For example it is clear that we all have different fingerprints, but it certainly isnâ€™t how we recognise individuals in everyday life. Equally, while MHC odours differ between individual mice, this isnâ€™t the way they recognise one another.â€

To test this theory, scientists observed how female mice identify potential mates.Â Female mice distinguish between dominant and weaker males, by how fresh a male scent-mark is.Â A dominant male is able to scent-mark a territory after excluding its other male competitors, allowing it to leave a more recent scent-mark than any of its competitors.

2. The University of Liverpool is one of the UK's leading research institutions.Â It attracts collaborative and contract research commissions from a wide range of national and international organisations valued at more than Â£100 million annually.